Machine for applying transfers



Oct. 18, 1949. c. e. NEWTON MACHINE FOR IQPPLYING TRANSFERS 5 Shee ts-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 4, 1945 lTlUETLtCII' L-L-J (M118, 1949. G, NEWTON 2,484,901

MACHINE FOR APPLYING TRANSFERS Filed Sept. 4 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 JnuEirLtmI' BILEII LES E: New tun.

' Oct. 18, 1949.. c. e. NEWTON 2,484,901

MACHINE FOR APPLYING TRANSFERS iled Sept. 4; 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 11111 Emtm: Cheri LE5 ELNBm tun Oct. 18, 1949. v c. e. NEWTON 2,434,901

MACHINE FOR APPLYING TRANSFERS Filed Sept. 4, 1945 5 Sheets$heet 4 JIiUEl'lLUD [ll-lattes [3; Newton Patented Oct. 18, 1949 HNETE STATES ATENT OFFICE- '7 Claims.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in machines or devices for impressing transfers upon articles of clothing, such as stockings, SOX, and the like, and the object of my invention is to devise a machine whereby a paper tape having a series of transfer emblems thereon is intermittently fed through the machine so that the emblems are successively brought into registration with a heating element to be impressed upon the article being stamped.

Paper tape has been used for many years in various machines for imprinting emblems upon wearing apparel through the application of heat and pressure, but in most of such machines great difiiculty has been encountered in getting the spaced-apart emblems on the tape to continuously register with the face of the heating element as the tape passes thereover. This is due to unavoidable variations in paper thickness which cause either binding or slippage between the tape and the actuating mechanism with the result that the emblems are very often out of register with the heating element.

A Very particular object of my invention is to overcome the before-mentioned difficulty and I attain the desired result by the provision of a moveable blade-like member which intermittently rests against the face of the moving tape and momentarily engages the edge of each embossed emblem whereby the tape is brought to a standstill in such a position that one of the precedin emblems is in register with the heating element.

Another and important object of my invention is to incorporate a tilting tray in my machine and upon which the article to be stamped rests; the tilting movement of the tray being synchronized with the movement of the heating element whereby the tray tilts after the article has been stamped, so that the stamped article drops downwardly and the tray upon returning to its horizontal position is ready to receive the next article to be stamped.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, as shall hereinafter appear, my invention consists of a machine for impressing transfers on articles of apparel all as hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of my machine, the upper oscillatable heating element and tape-carrying arm being partly broken away to disclose the interior thereof, the front part of the bench upon which the articles of apparel rest not being shown.

lar II on the rod 1.

' and one end of the supporting bench being broken away.

Figure 4 is an enlarged side elevational view of the knife blade assembly through which the tape passes and which controls the movement of the tape.

Figure 5 is a front elevational view of the assembly shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is an enlarged plan view of the fragmentary portion of the bench showing the tilting tray carried thereon.

Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view taken through the line 'l'l, Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a plan view of a piece of the embossed emblem paper tape showing the provision of a line character embossed upon the tape adjacent to an emblem.

Figure 9 is a similar view to Figure 8 showing dot characters embossed upon the tape between the emblems in place of the line character shown in Figure 8, and

Figure 10 is a highly magnified view of the edge of the tape showing the embossed emblem and also the embossed line or dot character thereon, the character being about to be engaged by the registering blade, as shall be hereinafter described.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the diiferent views of the drawmgs.

The emblem-imprinting portion of my machine comprises a swingable arm consisting of a pair of spaced apart side members 2 and 3 which are pivotally mounted upon a boss 4 positioned therebetween. A spindle 5 extends between the sides 2 and 3 and is rotatably contained within the boss E. A heating element or iron 6 is positioned between the forward ends of the sides 2 and 3 and the arm is swung about the spindle 5 through the medium of a connecting rod 1 which extends downwardly from the rear end of the arm. The upper end of the rod 1 freely extends through a shoulder 8 and is threaded to carry a nut 9 bearing against the upper face of the shoulder. A spring I0 is interposed between the lower face of the shoulder and a col- As the rod 1 is pulled downwardly, the forward end of the arm assembly swings upwardly and as the rod is moved upwardly the forward end of the arm swings downwardly to bring the heating element and trans,

fer into contact with the garment being stamped. By the provision of the spring II) interposed between the lower face of the shoulder 8 and the collar II, the rod I can be so adjusted that the spring Ill is compressed somewhat as the heating element on the front end of the arm contacts the garment, thus providing an even and unifOrm pressure irrespective of the thickness of the garment.

The paper-tape carrying the embossed emblems is in roll form I2 positioned between the side members 2 and 3 on a spindle I3. The free end of the roll is carried forwardly and downwardly between the sides 2 and 3 over a plurality of rods M which extend between the side members 2 and 3. A thin flexible metal plate I5 is carried over a number of the rods I4 and upon which the tape slides.

A pair of rollers I6 are positioned between the side members 2 and 3 on either side of the bottom of the heating element 6. The-spindles of the rollers are slidable within vertical slots I], the spindles of the rollers riding in the bottoms of the slots due to the weight of the rollers. When the rollers are in this position their bottoms are in a lower plane than the bottom of the heating element 6 and as the paper tape I8, passing from the roll I2; is carried over the rollers I6, it is also spaced away from the face of the hot heating element. When the forward end of the arm assembly swings downwardly into position to stamp the garment, the spindles of the rollers I6 will move upwardly in the slots I! under the downward pressure of the arm assembly whereby the face of the heating element It will come into contact with the tape I8 and press the emblem against the garment being stamped.

The tape I8 upon passing across the face of the heating element '6 passes between a pair of rollers I9 and 20 which function to draw the tape from the roll I2 across the heating element. The roller I9 is intermittently rotated and the roll 20 is free and can be adjusted in pressure against the tape I8 and roller I9. The roller I9 is carried upon a spindle 21. A ratchet wheel 22 is also mounted upon the spindle 2| and is positioned beside the roller I9. A spring actuated pawl 23 is secured to the side of the roller I9 and is adapted to engage with the ratchet wheel 22. A lever 24 extends from the vboss d to the side of the lower portion of the ratchet wheel 22, being pivotally connected .to the boss and the ratchet wheel. When the arm assembly is swung upwardly, through the downward pull of the rod "I, the arm 24., swinging about a lower centre than the centre of the spindle 5 about which the arm assembly swings, will move the ratchet wheel 22. in a counter-clockwise direction. As the pawl 23 on the side of the roller I9 is in engagement with one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel '22, the roller I9 Will also rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. This rotation of the roller I9 will continue until the arm assembly reaches the limit of its upward swing. As the arm assembly swings downwardly the ratchet wheel will rotate in a clockwise direction and the pawl 23 will disengage from the teeth of the ratchet wheel 22 and the roller I9 will remain stationary. It will thus be perceived that during each upward swing of the arm assembly the roller I9 will have a certain degree of movement and will, consequently, intermittently draw the tape I8 across the face of the heating element 6.

Due to unavoidable varying thicknesses of the paper tape it is not possible to depend upon the intermittent movements of the roller I9 to exert a uniform pull upon the tape and draw it a predetermined distance across the face of the heating element 6. If there is a thick portion of the paper tape passing between the rollers I9 and 29, there will be no slippage at that point, but, if a. thin spot on the paper tape passes between the rollers I9 and 20, there will be a certain amount of slippage which when carried over a number of intermittent movements of the roller I9 may cause the emblems to completely move out of register with the face of the heating element 6. In order to ensure that the transfer emblems will register with the heating face of the element at all times, I provide my emblem engaging blade device which I now describe.

My emblem registering device, as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, comprises a plate or anvil member 25 which is positioned between the side members 2 and 3 of the arm assembly in the path of the travel of the tape I8 as it leaves the roll I2. The plate 25 is positioned above the paper guide plate I5 and is supported by an angle bracket 26 extending transversely from the side member 2. The paper upon leaving the roll I2 passes underneath the first spindle I4 and across the top of the anvil plate 25, also shown in Figure 1. A horizontal rod 21 is journalled within the side member 2 and projects over the anvil plate 25. The blade carrying assembly is secured to the end of the rod 21 and consists of a pair of plates 28 and 29 which are secured to the rod 21 by screws 39. A blade 3| is secured between the lower ends of the plates 28 and 29 by a screw 32 which freely passes through the plate 29 and is threaded into the plate 28. A look nut 33 is carried upon the screw 32 to bear against the plate 29 whereby'the plates are drawn together to clamp the blade 3I. The end of the screw 32 projects through the plate 28 and its end is adapted to contact a pin 34 whereby the turning movement of the rod 21 and the downward swing of the plate and blade assembly can be limited and adjusted as such movement is halted when the end of the screw 32 comes into contact with the pin 34.

To actuate the swinging movement of the plate and blade assembly an arm 35 is secured to the rod 21, extending downwardly therefrom. A lever 36 is pivoted at one end to a lug I3'I carried upon the top of the boss 4 and has its other end extending past the lower end of the arm 35. The arm 35 and lever 36 are connected to a spring 3'! and the lever 36 is supported in its substantially horizontal position by a pin 38 projecting inwardly from the side member 2 and passing through a slot 39 in the lever. A knob 40 is carried by the lever 36 and is adapted to contact the side of the arm 35.

When the swingable arm assembly, as shown in Figure 1, is swung upwardly through the downward pull of the rod I, the lever 36, which is pivoted on the lug I3'I of the boss 4, will also swing about that point and as its pivotal point is above the centre of swing of the arm assembly it will move outwardly and exert a tension upon the spring 31. The spring 3'! will, therefore, have a tendency to swing the arm 35 in a clockwise direction, thus swinging the blade 3| downwardly into contact with the paper tape.

During the upward movement of the arm assembly the roller I9 will move in a counter-clockwise direction to pull upon the tape I8, as previously described. The mechanism is so designed and synchronized that the blade will come into contact with the tape before the movement of the tape under the pull of the roller I9 is completed.

Transfer paper tape as is in common use in the marking of articles of clothing has its emblems printed thereon in a type of ink which when subjected to heat and pressure leaves the paper to be transferred to the article. The transfer emblems are inked quite thickly upon the paper tape and are, in fact, what might be well described as embossed. In Figures 8, 9 and 10, I show enlarged views of paper tape with embossed emblems, and in the magnified View in Figure I show the embossing standing up a sufficient height from the face of the paper so that it is engageable by the lower edge 4| of the blade 3|. As the tape I8 is being drawn over the anvil plate 25 with the edge 4| of the blade 3| resting upon the upper surface of the paper, the edge of the blade will contact the first emblem 90 approaching it with sufficient surety to stop the movement of the tape. The contact between the blade edge and the emblem is arranged to occur just before the tape pulling roller |9 comes to a standstill. The pressure between the rollers l9 and 20 pulling upon the tape I8 is so arranged that as soon as the movement of the paper tape is stopped through the contact of the blade with an emblem the rollers will slip without tearing the tape. The length of tape between the blade 3| and the face of the heating element is so arranged that when the blade 3| is in contact with an emblem that one of the other emblems which has already passed the blade 3| will be in register underneath the face of the heating element 6.

When the arm assembly swings downwardly to impress the transfer emblem underneath the element 6 onto the article to be stamped, the lever 36 will have a retroactive movement wherein the tension will be taken off the spring 31 and the knob 40 on the lever 36 will come into contact with the side of the arm 35 and swing such arm and blade assembly in a counter-clockwise direction whereby the edge 4| of the blade 3| will be lifted from out of contact with the side edge of the emblem. As previously explained, the roller |9 will be stationary during this movement as will also be the tape. When the arm assembly commences to swing upwardly to repeat the procedure, the roller l9 will move and pull the tape |8 prior to the blade 3| being swung downwardly to re-contact the tape so that the emblem previously contacted by the blade will have an opportunity to slide thereunder before the blade re-contacts the tape to engage the next emblem.

As in many cases transfer emblems are of quite an intricate design and do not present a, straight edge across the letters of the emblem design which can be uniformly contacted by the blade edge, I propose to use a very effective and yet simple method for stopping the travel of the tape and embodying the same principle as my invention. In Figure 8, I show bar characters 42 embossed upon the tape between the emblems, and in Figure 9, I show corresponding aligned dot characters 43 embossed upon the tape between the emblems. These characters can be readily embossed upon the tape at the same time as the emblems are printed or embossed and are provided so that they will be contacted by the blade 3| instead of the blade contacting the emblems. The bars or aligned dots will always present a uniform side surface to the edge of the blade and there will be no possibility of the emblems being pulled underneath or being shorn off by the blade as they come into contact therewith. In the case of certain designs where the tops of some letters are higher than others, there is the possibility that the edge of the blade may occasionally shear the tops of the letters in the emblem and thus not bring the tape to a standstill at exactly the same point in each stamping operation.

In order to swing the heating element and tape carrying arm assembly, any suitable mechanism can be employed and in Figures 1 and 2, I show such an arrangement. The stamping assembly is carried upon a suitable table top Or bench 4 4 which is, in turn, mounted upon a suitable frame 45. An electric motor 46 is suitably positioned within the lower portion of the frame and carries a driving pulley 41 which is connected by a belt 48 with a larger pulley 49 carried upon a horizontal shaft 50 extending across the frame and suitably journalled therein. A belt pulley 5| smaller in diameter than the pulley 49 is secured to the shaft adjacent to the pulley 49 and carries a belt 52 passing over a pulley 53 which is carried upon a stub shaft 54 extending from a forwardly and downwardly inclined lever 55 which has its rearward end :pivoted upon a horizontal shaft 56 which is also suitably journalled within the frame 45. A clutch pedal 5! is mounted on the floor and is connected to the lower end of the forward end of the lever 55. The lever 55, which is pivoted upon the shaft 56, has its forward end suspended on a spiral spring 58 which has its upper end hooked over the shaft 50.

The stub shaft 54 also carries a belt pulley 59 which is smaller in diameter than the pulley 53 and is connected by a belt 60 with a pulley 6| carried upon the shaft 56. The shaft 56 carries an ovoid-shaped cam 62. A lever 63 is pivoted at its forward end upon the shaft 50 and extends rearwardly to be connected with the lower end of the rod 1, through the medium of a boss 64 carried upon the end of the lever 63 and through which the rod 1 extends. A screw 65 is threaded into the end of the boss 64 to bear against and lock the rod 1 in place. Intermediately of the length of the lever 63 immediately above the cam 62 a boss 66 on the lever carries a freely mounted roller 61 which rides upon the cam 62. The lever 63 is urged downwardly so that the roller 61 rides upon the cam 62 through the medium of a spiral spring 68 which is hooked at its upper end to the lever 53 and at its lower end suitably attached to a cross bar 69 in the frame.

The operation of the foregoing mechanism is relatively simple. When the motor 46 is running it will, through the medium of the pulley 41, belt 48, pulley 49, pulley 5|, belt 52 and pulley 53 rotate the stub shaft 54 and the pulley 59. As the lever 55 carrying the stub shaft 54 is in an upwardly swung position under the pull of the spiral spring 58 the belt 60 passing over the pulley 59 and pulley 6| on the shaft 56 will be loose so that the rotation of the pulley 59 will not be transmitted through the belt to the pulley SI and the shaft 56 will remain stationary. When the operator depresses the clutch pedal 51 it will through the medium of the connecting rod 1|) swing the lever 55 downwardly against the tension of the spring 58 and thus cause the belt 69 to tighten and the pulley 6| and shaft 56 to rotate. As the shaft 56 carries the ovoid cam 62 under the movement of which the lever 53 is actuated, it will be seen upon reference to Figure 1 that as soon as the shaft 56 and cam 62 rotate that the lever 63 will swing downwardly under the urge of the spring 58, thus pulling the rod 1 downwardly and swinging the heating .element and paper tape carrying arm assembly upwardly. The machine will operate aslong as the operator keeps the clutch pedal depressed, but as soon as pressure is removed from the clutch pedal the lever 55 will swing upwardly under the pull of the spring 58 and the belt 60 will again become slack and the machine come to a standstill.

Upon reference to Figures 3, 6 and 7, it will be seen that I provide a rectangular orifice 1| in the top 44 forwardly of the forward end of the swinging arm assembly. A tilting tray 12 is positioned to :be underneath the heating element, as shown in Figure 1, and to support an article 13 to be stamped. The under portion of the tray carries a pair of hinges "l4 intermediately of its width .and such hinges are secured to the rearward edge of the orifice "H. The tray 12 is slightly shorter in length than the orifice so that its forward end can swing downwardly into the orifice as shown in Figure 7. The portion of the tray resting upon the top 44 is furnished with a felt pad 75 so as to provide a cushioned surface for the stamping operation .of the article.

The under face of the forward portion of the tray 12 carries a downwardly projecting lug 16 which is connected by a link 71 to the upper end of a bell crank lever 13, also shown in Figures 1 and 2; The bell crank lever 18 is freely fulcrumed upon the shaft and the end of its lower arm carries a roller 19 which rides upon a semicircular cam 80 attached to the side of the ovoidshaped cam 62. The top of the bell crank lever 18 is urged in'a counter-clockwise direction by a spiral spring 81. As the shaft 56 rotates when the machine is in operation, the semi-circular cam 80 will also rotate with the cam 62 and as the bell crank lever roller '19 rides thereon the lever 78 will swing once during each rotation of the shaft 56 and thus tilt the tray 12 as shown in Figure 7. The cam mechanism is so synchronized that the tray 12 will tilt as the lever 63 swings downwardly to swing the stamping arm assembly upwardly. When the tray tilts, the

stamped article lying thereon will be dropped downwardly to lie over the front edge of the orifice H, as illustrated in Figure 7. When the machine is to be put in operation, a number of articles of apparel are stacked upon the table top it in front of the orifice H and the free end of the lowermost article is placed upon the tray 12. When the stamping operation is completed and the tray tiits, the free end of the article is dropped over the edge into the orifice and the operator places the free end of the next article in the stack on the tray 72, which is then returned to the horizontal position, for the next stamping operation.

In order to draw off and control the free end of the used tape 18 as it passes from between the rollers l9 and 29, I suitably mount a pair of driven rollers 82 underneath the bench top 44 and between which the free end of the tape is passed. The rollers 82 can be driven from any suitable point, as for example, by a belt 83 carried upon a pulley M mounted upon the shaft 56 and extending to a pulley 85 on one of the rollers 82.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that I have devised a very simple and practical machine for stamping articles of wearing apparel, and, although I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I can make such changes and alterations as I may from time to means for feeding the tape in one direction only.

into a position proximate to the hose, heated means for pressing a transfer emblem on the tape against the hose, and mechanically retractable means positioned adjacent to the face of'the tape carrying the emblems and towards which the tape feeds and adapted to impact the edge of an embossed emblem on the tape to mechanically arrest the feeding movement of the tape.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tape has embossed transfer emblems and embossed characters thereon, the embossed transfer emblems being applied to the hose and the embossed characters being impacted by the retractable tape movement arresting means.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the retractable means comprises a swingably mounted blade adapted to swing towards and away from the tape, and a plate member oppositely positioned to the blade at the other side of the tape and upon which the tape slides.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the retractable means comprises a swingably mounted blade adaptedvto swing towards and away from the tape, a plate member oppositely positioned to the blade at the other side of the tape and upon which the tape slides, and wherein the tape has embossed transfer emblems and embossed characters thereon, the embossed transfer emblems being applied to the hose and theem-- bossed characters being impacted by the edge of the blade.

5. In an apparatus for impressing transfer emblems on hosiery and other objects from a paper tape having ink embossed transfer emblems on its face and moving in one direction only across.

the face of the hose to be impressed,,heated, means for pressing the transfer emblems on the tape against the hose, anda mechanically retractable member positioned adjacently to the face of the tape carrying the transfer emblems and towards which the tape feeds and adapted to impact the edges of the embossed emblems on the tape to mechanicallyarrest the movement of the tape and being so located that the tape moves from the retractable member to the hose.

6. In an apparatus for placing transfer emblems on hosiery and other objects from a roll of paper tape having thereon spaced apart ink embossed transfer emblems, a member upon which the hosiery rests, means for supporting the roll of tape and from which the tape extends, means for feeding the tape in one direction only through a position proximate to the hose, a rotating roller pulling the tape and over which the tape passes upon moving from the position proximate to the hose, heated means positioned proximate to the hose for pressing a transfer emblem on the tape against the hose, a mechanic-ally retractable barrier blade towards which the tape feeds and fulcrumed laterally above and swingable towards the tape in such a manner as to present an obstruction in the path of travel of the embossed emblems on the tape so that the'movement of the tape is arrested by the barrier'blade impacting the leading edge of an embossed emblem whereby such arresting force exceeds the traction of the roller pulling the tape, and means synchronizing the pressing of a transfer emblem on the tape against the hose with the movement of the retractable barrier blades into contact with the edge of an emblem on the tape.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination with a length of paper tape having spaced apart ink embossed transfer emblems thereon, of a member for supporting hosiery to be stamped, means for passing the tape in one direction only across the face of the hosiery on the member, means for pressing a transfer emblem on the tape against the hose, and mechanically retractable means towards which the tape feeds and operating in synchronization with the transfer pressing means and adapted to impact 'the leading edge of an embossed emblem on the tape to mechanically arrest the movement of the tape across the hose.

CHARLES G. NEWTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,888,154 Allen Nov. 15, 1932 2,102,970 Paterson Dec. 21, 1937 2,166,268 Simmons July 18, 1939 2,211,862 Rosenthal Aug. 20, 1940 2,286,458 Bowman June 16, 1942 2,323,843 Richter July 6, 1943 2,335,840 Hebenstreit Nov. 30, 1943 

